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This is one of my favorite menus. The salmon is based on a dish from a restaurant and my whole table raved about and the garden fresh soup can be served hot or cold. Substitute any garden fresh fruit for dessert.

These are so simple, even if you’ve never cooked before, you’ll be successful. I still don’t now have a name for this pasta dish (thanks everyone) and I find it difficult to believe that 6 ingredients could be so flavorful. On the board tonight:

Pasta Caprese

Loaf of Bread

Apple & Blackberry Crisp

Pasta Caprese

9 oz linguine or fettuccine

2 large tomatoes, diced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

1 tsp crushed garlic

4 oz cubed mozzarella

salt & pepper to taste

saucepan and large serving dish

Prepare pasta according to package directions. While it’s cooking, mix remaining ingredients together. Drain pasta completely (dab with paper towels, if necessary) then add to tomato mixture. Let sit for 10-15 minutes to let flavors blend. Serve warm or you can refrigerate and serve cold. Add a nice loaf of bread for a complete dinner.

I use a fairly expensive mozzarella for this dish because it’s softer, tastier and absorbs more flavors. Any locally produced mozzarella would work. Also, my local farmers’ market has a pasta vendor, who hand makes many flavors of pasta. This dish works very well with flavored pastas – fire roasted chili, lemon pepper, tomato basil, red bell pepper – the list goes on. You can also change up the cheese to a Queso Blanco (again, use a fairly expensive or locally produced one), use cilantro instead of basil and use a chili flavored pasta for a whole new dish. The possibilities are endless.

The credit for this dish goes to friends. Every time they made it for me I’d ask, “What’s in this again?” Couldn’t believe it was so simple. After a trip to the farmers’ market, we started trying different flavors. Now on to dessert….

Apple & Blackberry Crisp:

½ cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 cup oatmeal

1 tsp cinnamon

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

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3 apples, cored & sliced (peeling opt)

1 cup blackberries

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp lemon juice

8×8 baking dish and mixing bowl

In bowl, cut together sugar, brown sugar, flour, oatmeal, cinnamon & butter until crumbly. In baking dish, toss apple slices & blackberries with sugar & lemon juice. Crumble butter mixture over the top evenly. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes, until top is golden and bubbly and apples are soft. Let cool 10 minutes before serving to let fruit set.

If you want to change it up, use different fruits or fruit combinations you might like – peaches, pears, blueberries, strawberries, and even rhubarb (you’ll have to add about a ½ cup of sugar to the fruit and cook 40 minutes).

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About TaMara

What's to say? I love to cook and I think families benefit from sitting down together for dinner every night. I ran What's 4 Dinner Solutions menus service for many year. Soon those menus, recipes and shopping lists will be a series of cookbooks. Guaranteed to make it easier for families to have a quick, delicious and nutritious dinner each night.